Five Food Myths

posted August 3, 2005
  by Lauren Braun Costello, The Competent Cook

Chilean sea bass, baby carrots, peanuts, white chocolate, and wild mushrooms. What do they all have in common? They are not what they say they are. That's right. Read on...

Myth 1: Chilean Sea Bass
To paraphrase the Saturday Night Live character, Linda Richman, made famous by Mike Meyers, "Chilean sea bass is neither Chilean nor sea bass. Discuss." Unfortunately, this is pretty much true. This deep water fish is actually the species known as "toothfish," unrelated to sea bass. It is mostly harvested in southern ocean waters off the coast of Antarctica, less frequently caught in Chilean waters. It was given the name "Chilean" because Chile was the first country to market toothfish commercially in the United States. Another myth is that of endangerment. Although Chilean sea bass is certainly overfished in many areas, it is not quite a species on the verge of extinction. However, the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce report jointly that "large, unreported catches from illegal fishing of this valuable fish has made effective management difficult."

Myth 2: Baby Carrots
Don't get me wrong. I see the value of commercial baby carrots. Those short, plump bright orange carrots packaged for our convenience in plastic bags are perfect for dips and snacks. But they are not really what you may think. Those are not baby carrots any more than tater tots are baby potatoes. Do not be alarmed. They are in fact made from carrots. But baby carrots, as you see them in their packaging, do not grow in nature. Commercial baby carrots are "manufactured" by being cut and peeled from undersized carrots or pieces of carrots. Real, natural whole "baby" carrots are shaped just like regular carrots, elongated orange cones with green stem tops. The next time you buy a bag of these so-called baby carrots notice how there are only about half a dozen repeating shapes in the bag. Take a bite and see how they don’t have "wood," the natural concentric whitish circle in the center of a carrot that resembles a tree trunk. If you can find the real ones, buy them and savor their dense, sweet real carrot flavor.

Myth 3: Peanuts
Linda Richman could say, "a peanut is neither a pea, nor a nut. Discuss." But this time she would be only about half right. Our nation’s favorite nut is not a nut but in fact a legume, just like a pea. Peanuts are seeds inside shells that grow on bushes or vines. Legumes are such plants that have pods with multiple seeds inside (beans, lentils, etc.). Unlike legumes, nuts are single-seeded dry fruits but they do come packed in shells. Peanut flavor is nut-like, as is its size, appearance and natural packaging. Perhaps a peanut is somewhat aptly named after all. It belongs to the same family as peas, but looks and tastes like a nut!

Myth 4: White Chocolate
The truth about white chocolate is short and sweet (no pun intended). This ubiquitous confection does not contain any chocolate. That's right. No chocolate. It is derived from cocoa butter (the fat from the cocoa bean), which gives it the trace of a faint chocolate flavor. The cocoa butter is then blended with sugar and milk solids, hence the creamy white color.

Myth 5: Wild Mushrooms
Just because a mushroom is not a white button does not make it "wild." How many times have you ordered a dish that is billed to have wild mushrooms in it, and when you have a look and take a bite you find that you are eating portobellos, criminis, shitakes and porcinis? Far too often, I would wager. All these varieties of mushrooms are mostly farmed or grown commercially. There are edible mushrooms that are cultivated strictly in the wild, such as truffles. But those mushrooms are usually named outright on a menu. So unless you picked the mushroom yourself in a dark forest (which you should NOT do), it is more likely than not the farthest thing from wild. And when it comes to mushrooms, there is actually comfort in knowing that. Calling mushrooms wild is misleading when all that is meant by the term is that they are not basic button mushrooms.

Ignorance is bliss, they say. But I would rather you have all the information to be a competent cook.

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